Is 2015 Nintendo’s Year?

Posted on January 15, 2015

I had this big, elaborate post about Nintendo’s direct from the other night. I was using fancy words and everything. But the more I wrote, the more I realised I didn’t really need to be all that fancy or elaborate at all.

Because, truth be told, Nintendo has come out the block swinging. Big time. I mean, you’ve got Zelda front and centre, the Amiibo’s (is that how you spell it? Amebo … Amiiboo … Uew Boll? Something like that) are selling out like hot cakes with three different waves to come, plus a host of other titles spread across both Wii U and 3DS.

So I pose the question. Is this Nintendo’s year? When I ask that, I don’t just mean for the company either, but for the fans. Is this the year we finally get what we’ve been wanting all along, a company willing to do whatever it takes to get fans and newcomers alike on its side, creating new and exciting content across all forms?

Short answer, yes. Long answer, maybe.

We’re only in the first month of the year. Yes, this Nintendo Direct kicked all sorts of ass, but try not to get too far ahead of the curve here. We’re still yet to really see the next Zelda in action, or the new Starfox, and besides those two we have no idea what the rest of the year has planned (outside of cutsie platformers for Yoshi and Kirby).

There’s still many questions left unanswered. How many more Amii … however you spell it can there be left to sell? How much of an open world will Zelda Wii U be? Oh, and where’s F-Zero for crying out loud?

It’s a good start, riding on the coattails of Smash Bros., and there’s some new IP’s headed our way too, headed by Splatoon. Me personally, I get the feeling there’s something big about 2015, that Nintendo knows it needs to capatalise on this growth in popularity even more so than ever before. Some say they wasted their Wii success, but I like to think they’ve learnt from that. But it’s really too early to tell whether any of these releases, including Monster Hunter, will be as big as Nintendo hope they will be, nevermind whether the quality will hold up to expectations.

But hey, at the very least we get the spotlight firmly on Majora’s Mask for a while, a game many deem was overshadowed by Ocarina of Time as the best Zelda title ever (though we can argue about that later). Whatever does happen, at least we’ll be having fun in Hyrule all over again … and again.

Nintendo’s come out swinging. How many rounds will they hang in for? What do you think? Let us know in the comments!